Improvement in sewing-machines



2 Sheets-Sheet 1. W. WEITLING.

,,, I!g Machine.

Patented Oct. 29, 1861.;

2 SheetsSheet 2. W. WEITLING.

Sewing Machine. v No. 33,619. Patented Oct. 29, I861.

fag-2 UNITED STATES WILLIAM- WEITLING,

PATENT OFFIcE.

OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 33.619, dated October 29, 1861.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM WEITLING, of city and county of New York, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements for Making Button-Holes by Sewing-Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the, accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure I represents a-plan or top view of my machine, showing the position of the threadholder d when checked from revolving by the threads being in their fullest tension. Fig. II represents the lower side of the plate B of my machine. Fig. III is a longitudinal vertical view of the cloth-presser 0, showing the position of that special part of my invention described within as the axle b of the thread-holder d. Fig. IV is a plan view ofthe lower side of that special part of my invention described within as the thread-holder cl, showing its hook and axle-hole and the position of the threads with respect to the hook at the time the point of the needle stitches through the upper loop. Fig. Vis a longitudinal vertical view of my machine, showing the position of the threads with respect to the hook c after it (the hook) has taken up the upper loop. Fig. VI represents the stitch produced by my invention on the upper side of the button-hole. Fig. VII is a longitudinal vertical view of the needle-bar A, showing the positionof the shuttleg when taking up .the' lower loops. Fig. VIII represents the stitch produced by my invention on the lower side of the button-hole.

' Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the eight figures.

1 construct the ordinary parts of my sewingmachine in any of the known forms by which the shuttle or its equivalent is moved across the stitchingline, so that when the feeder moves the cloth either from 1 to 2 or from 2 to 1,'as shown by Fig. I, B, the shuttle or its equivalent, moves from 3 to 4, and vice versa.

The special parts of my invention consist, first, of athread-carriercarryinga thread down and up the'opening of the button-hole, while the needle, in stitching, carries one down and up through the cloth; second, in a special opening in the plate for the passage of the thread-carrier; third, in a thread-holder revolving round an axle fixed in the cloth-presser, and provided below its base with a hook wherewith to take up the slackening of the threads above the plate and to hold them in the form of loops under the needle; fourth, in a thread-regulator for alternately opening and shutting the opening in the plate for the passage of the thread-carrier; fifth, ina take-up tension keeping the threads in a continual tension while running from the spools, so as to take up any slackening not taken up by the thread-holder; sixth, in a tension-regulator checking the take-up tension for the time the shuttle or its equivalent passes through the loops forming below the plate.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and-use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

My machine operates with three threads at once. One is worked in the ordinary manner by a common sewing-machine needle stitching through the cloth, the second by the threadcarrier moving down and up the opening of the button-hole while the needle stitches through and rises from the cloth, and the third by the shuttle loopcheckin g both the other threads on the lower side of the button-hole. The thread of the needle and that ofthe thread-carrier are fed from spools 0 o, secured on hollow axles h h, extending out of and secured with one end in rollers h 72. (the tension rollers.) These rollers turn on arms 5 t. Both arms are secured in standard to, as shown by Fig. I. I

The thread carrier at, having all the specialties of a sewing-machine needle but the point,-

which it has not, issecured, with the needle 0, in the. needle-bar A at a distance from the needle corresponding with the intended depth of the button -'hole stitch, the eyehole of the thread'carrier and that of the needle staudin g in the same direction and on a level. with a line parallel with the plane of the plate.

The thread-holder (1 consists of a roller (the thread-holder roller) provided below its base with a book, 4;, as shown by Fig. IV, and revolving horizontally to the plane of the plate B, Fig. I, on an axle, b, Fig. III, fixed perpendicularly in the base of the cloth-presser 0, near its (the cloth-pressers) opening for the passage of the needle. The thread-holder d revolves by the action of a cord, r running over a groove, 00, which groove encircles the thread holdcrs top, and over rollers s and 8 which rollers turn on arm 23, secured in standdie, and by which, also, its revolving is alternately checked by coming in contact with the needle when in the cloth and with the threads when in their fullest tension. Thus in the lirst hall of the descending of the needle-bar the threads slacken and thethread-holder, taking up this slackening. revolves, and by its protuberance pushes the threads sideward, giving them thereby such an inclined position below the base of the thread-holder as to be easily taken up by the thread-holder hook oand laid in loop form before the needle. At this stage of the operation the point of the needle stitches through this loop form and through the cloth, alter having passed through an opening in the edge of the protuberating side of the threadholder roller. (See the position of the threads and of hook o in Fig. V, and their next following position in Fig. IV.) In the latter half of the descending of the needle-bar the needle and the thread-carrier each draws the loop formed by its thread from under the hook and closely to the cloth.- The thread of the needle, following exactly its stitching-line, is thus drawn out from its loop form, while that of the thread-carrier is kept in it by the needle checking, while in the cloth, the loop of the threadcarriers thread, and when out of it its thread acting as loop-check to that of the threadcarrier. Thus a stitch is produced on the upper side of the button-hole, as shown in Fig. II, the red loops representing the thread of the needle and the blue ones that of the thread-carrier. During this latter half of the descent of the needle-bar the thread-holder remains stationary, being checked from revolvin g by the needle and thread-carrier drawing down the threads of the loop below the plate from under the hook. In the first half of the rising of the needle-bar the threadholder, being then freed from the action of the threads on its book, makes half of another revolution, near the end of which it is checked again by the ascending needle then still in the cloth. At the same time both the thread of the needle and that of the thread-carrier form loops to 20 below the plate B, Fi VII. The shuttle y, or its equivalent, passes a thread (marked black in Fig. VIII) through both of these loops. In the latter half of its rising the needle-bar draws both, of the loops w to closely to the lower side of the button-hole, the thread of the shuttle or its equivalent serving them as loop-check. Thus by the combination of both threadsavith that of the sh uttle or its equivalent a stitch is produced on the lower side of the button-hole, as shown by Fig. VIII. In this latter half'of the rising of the needle-bar the thread-holder is checked in revolving first by the needle, as stated above, and then by the threads being in their fullest tension, as shown by Fig. I. The needle-bar, having now fully ascended, descends again, and thus the operation begins anew, as heretofore described.

As by thesh'uttle working across the stitchthis operationthe thread-regulator opens the opening 2 when the thread-carrier descends into it, and shuts it when it rises from it, preventing thus the threads from being entangled inthis opening.

By the working together of two threads, the one passing down and up the stitching through the cloth, the other down and up the opening of the button-hole, any one of them is likely to slacken more than the other. To prevent this I provide any machine with a takeup tension consisting of a combination of rollers, weights,-and steel springs with a double leader, by which combination the spools 0 0 are secured over hollow axles h h, extending out of and secured with one end in tension- -rollers h 70 These tension-rollers are regulated by tension-weights la 70 (in order to prevent the threads from running off too easily) and by steel springs g g, (the tension-springs,) which springs are secured in arms "5 i, closel to standard a. The loose ends of the tensionsprings are provided with eye-holes for the threads to run through before passing the double leader j. The ends of the tensionsprings g g, reaching higher than the double leader, are thus bent down somewhat by the stretching tendency of the running threads, and as'any slackening of one thread or the other is quickly taken up by the rising tend ency of the springs, until worked off again by the feeding required for the operation of the needle and the thread-carrier, a continuous tension of the threads is kept up. This continuous tension cannot prevent the formation of the upper loops, as its power is made less than that produced by the action of the threadholder weight 2*, or its equivalent, on the cord r but inorder chine with a tension-regulator.

The tension regulator consists of a steel spring, I, (the regnlator-spring,) tixed in the hind part, n, of the cloth-presser bar D, Fig. l, and ending double in the tension-regulator bar in, which it horizontally holds over and presses on both the tension-springs gg, which pressure thus suspends the take-up tension for that it may not stop the formation of the lower loops I provide my mathe time the lower loops are forming. The

' other end of the tension-regulator springis so again on the tension-springs, thus alternately checking and freeing the take-up tension.

In behalf of Fig.V, [have yet to remark that the thread-holder (I. here appears broken off, in order to show bettertheposition of the threads.

Having thus fully described my invention, 1 have to state that 1 do not claim the mechanism by which. the shuttle y, or its equivalent, is moved, nor that by which the cord 1' is made to act on the thread-holder (I. I do not claim the ordinary parts and known forms of a sewing-machine. I do not claim the shuttle, nor the sewing-machine needle. Neither do I claim the thread-carriers specialties of a sewing-machine needle.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The employment of a thread-carrier, a,

consisting of a sewing-machine needle having no point and operating through the opening of the button-hole, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The arrangement-oflayingthe upperloops with the book 1; by the revolution of the threadholder (1, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. The arrangement by which the openingz in the bed-plate, provided for the passage of the thread-carrier, is alternately opened and shut by the employment of a thread-regulator, e and f, Figs. II and V, operating substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. The arrangement of the take-up tension, consisting of a combination of hollow axles, h h, with rollers k W, weights k k, cord 1' and double leaderj, operating substantially in the manner and for the purpose specified.

5. The arrangement of alternately checking and freeing the take-up tension by the employment ot' a tension-regulator, Z and m, Fig. I, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

v\VILLIAM WEITLING. 

